75 f M Lankum
category in consolation, the far more butch sounding Musician Of The Year. The award had only ever been won by two women in the past, so it was decided they clearly didn’t want it enough. Now Martin Simpson, Mohsen Amini, Ross Ainslie and Tim Edey must wrestle for the title. The smart money is on the big man Edey, felling his opponents like trees, but I wouldn’t rule out the veteran guitarist. They don’t call him Strangler Simpson for nothing. In fact they don’t call him Stran- gler Simpson at all. Not if they don’t want to be strangled.
I
’m joking of course. Women are still allowed to be musicians. It’s just a bizarre coincidence that none of the voting panel have ever heard of Patsy Reid or Lauren MacColl or Jenna Reid or Sarah-Jane Summers or Bethany Reid or Anna Massie and I’ve just managed to name six female musicians who’ve long deserved a nomination, with- out even straying from a list of people who’ve played in the group RANT. It’s not fucking difficult.
The fRoots tradition is that the writer of this feature uses their insider knowledge to predict the winners of the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. I’ve long been playing a ver- sion of this game during the ceremony itself. As the names are read out I go and sit on the lap of the person I think will win. I’m rarely correct, but it puts me in prime position to offer a conciliatory cuddle. If I’m able to attend this year’s bash in Belfast, I’ll be making a beeline for the laps of Lankum when the Best Group category is announced. They’re up against Elephant Sessions, Eliza Carthy & The Wayward Band and Sam Kelly & The Lost Boys so I wouldn’t risk actual money on it, but it feels like it’s time the Dublin punk rockers were recog- nised by the Trad Academy (just as it felt last year and the year before that.)
I’d also want to see them take away the Best Album prize because they are my friends and I’m unashamedly biased. But that one’s chosen by the public and you can’t trust them to vote for anything these days. If Lankum, Eliza, Karine and The Young’uns were all up against a sandal with some sick in it, you can be sure a sig- nificant number of people would tick the box for the vomity flip flop. “We’re fed up with having to listen to albums by people who can play instruments and sing. It’s about time we found out what a shoe that someone’s thrown up in would sound like.” Hashtag satire.
y prediction for the Hori- zon Award (named after Dr Graham Horizon, inven- tor of the world’s first vir- tual bodhrán) is Cohen
Braithwaite-Kilcoyne. Or someone else. No, it will probably be him. And if it’s not him then I imagine there will only be a few votes in it. If Ryan Young or Georgia Lewis or Ímar get it then you can be cer- tain that Cohen Braithwaite-Kilcoyne nearly got it. It will have been close. Bad luck Cohen/Congratulations Cohen. Delete as applicable on the night.
I’ve only heard one of the Best Origi- nal Tracks. It was quite good.
Many musicians, especially those who’ve won a lot of these awards in the past, will tell you they don’t really matter; that you can’t rank art or decide who’s best when best is an entirely subjective concept. But they’ve wrongly assumed that this is about them. It isn’t. They get to take the sculpted metal fella home with them and then triple their booking fee, that’s an added bonus. But this is really about vindicating our tastes. It’s about us, the fans. Of course it’ll be lovely for Chris Foster to win Best Traditional Track, I’m sure he’ll be thrilled. But I’ll be punching the air that a singer whose music I’ve liked for years has finally been recognised by someone other than me. That’s what award ceremonies are really for: the chance to feel like the world agrees with you for one small moment in time. I will also punch the air if Ye Vagabonds, Alaw or Siobhan Miller take that title. But most- ly because I’ll be drunk.
The BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award is usually my favourite category of the night. It’s fun to guess who’ll be bitter and jaded in just a few short years. Up for the chance of accidentally swearing on live radio this year are The Drystones (who might want to consider deleting from their website the 2012 photo of them literally standing on a drystone wall, in case the tabloids get hold of it), Mera Royle (who is a Manx harpist and therefore deserves an award just for being a Manx harpist), Josiah & Ludwig (who’ve posted a video on YouTube featuring Ludwig playing fiddle in his socks. He’s gonna be trouble), and Jack Warnock (who plays piano, guitar, banjo and sings. And if he can do them all at the same time the award is in the bag.)
Lastly, Best Duo is between Chris Stout & Catriona McKay, Edgelarks (who changed their name from Phillip Henry and Hannah Martin after legal threats from another Phillip Henry and Hannah Martin), O’Hooley & Tidow and Ross “bag- pipes” Ainslie & Ali “also bagpipes” Hut- ton. Last year I confidently told Belinda O’Hooley that they’d win this category, approximately five seconds before they didn’t. If it goes their way this year I can turn my shame into prescience.
And I’ve just found out that the Life- time Achievement Awards will be given to B*Witched and that little boy who sang Bonnie Wee Jeannie McColl on Going Live in 1989.
The 2018 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards will be broadcast on BBC Radio 2 on Wednes- day 4th April.
F THOSE NOMINATIONS…
FOLK SINGER OF THE YEAR Cara Dillon Julie Fowlis Siobhan Miller Karine Polwart
BEST GROUP Elephant Sessions
Eliza Carthy & The Wayward Band Lankum
Sam Kelly & The Lost Boys BEST DUO
Chris Stout & Catriona McKay Edgelarks
O’Hooley & Tidow Ross Ainslie & Ali Hutton
MUSICIAN OF THE YEAR
Martin Simpson Mohsen Amini Ross Ainslie Tim Edey
HORIZON AWARD
Cohen Braithwaite-Kilcoyne Georgia Lewis Ímar
Ryan Young BEST ORIGINAL TRACK
Be The Man by The Young’uns Cân y c n by Gwyneth Glyn The Granite Gaze by Lankum The Great Saint Lawrence River by Declan O’Rourke
BEST TRADITIONAL TRACK
Banks Of Newfoundland by Siobhan Miller Lisa Lân by Alaw
Lowlands Of Holland by Ye Vagabonds
The Life of a Man / Greensleeves by Chris Foster
BEST ALBUM
Eliza Carthy & The Wayward Band: Big Machine
Karine Polwart with Pippa Murphy: A Pocket Of Wind Resistance
Lankum: Between The Earth And Sky The Young’uns: Strangers
YOUNG FOLK AWARD
Jack Warnock Josiah & Ludwig Mera Royle The Drystones
Photo: Sarah Flynn
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